Dodds, a country singer from Unionville, Ind., said entertainment is one of the main ideas behind what he does as a performer.
“If you enjoy that kind of ‘beat tracks and drinking and tailgates,’ then that’s what you should make,” he said. “And if you enjoy the ballads, then you should make ?ballads.”
Dodds and the Stagecoach Revolver Band will be entertaining the Bluebird Nightclub this Friday. Bloomington band Haywire will be opening for the country singer and local disc jockey, DJ Unique, will also be at the show.
“We try and have a lot of fun,” Dodds said. “I think that’s the point. Every other day can suck, you know, but Friday or Saturday or whatever night you’re going to see the show, you’re going there because you want to have fun. I think sometimes people forget that.”
The people outside of country music often look down on the genre, Dodds said, but he thinks that as long as music entertains, it’s doing a good job.
“If it’s somebody doing something very abstract, if that’s your definition of entertainment, then that’s good,” he said. “But if your definition of entertainment is some rocking guitars and drinking and partying, then that’s good too.
Dodds said he loves coming home from playing in cities across the Midwest to play a show at the Bluebird. He said it’s his favorite venue in Bloomington. Because Unionville is only 15 minutes away from Bloomington, Dodds said the Bluebird is where his home crowd can get a chance to come see him.
“It’s a really cool place to play too, just the setup and the atmosphere,” Dodds said.
Nearly every weekend, and even during the week if there is a venue for him to play at, Dodds said he is playing shows. He said he somewhat consistently performs in nine or 10 states.
“I don’t use the word ‘tour’ because I want to save that for when it’s real,” he said. “I want to be super excited about it.”
Dodds is currently working on his first extended play, which he said will be released in the spring.
The songs on the album are a mix of modern country and the Rolling Stones, he said. Only two of the songs on the album were written by Dodds himself. He said the decision to choose songs written by outside writers was his own because he thought the songs were better than his.
“There’s a lot of writers in Nashville that have been there a long time that have never gotten cut, so I think that’s something that people should remember,” he said.
In the meantime, Dodds said he is working on improving his ability to write songs.
The music Dodds performs rides a line between the music he heard with his grandfather on the Grand Ole Opry, the Statler Brothers Show and the country music popular on the radio today such as Florida Georgia Line, he said.
“I just write what I know,” he said. “I write story songs.”
